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From Thomas Partey's rape allegations to Kurt Zouma's cat-kicking saga, 2022 was a truly wild year in sports.
As we continue with our end of the year football-column tradition, controversy seems to be recurring event year-in year-out.
These events, sometimes groundbreaking, get lots of people talking on the internet, ranging from iconic moments to the sad and even disturbing ones.
Pulse Sports takes a look at those moments that got sports fans and a larger part of the globe talking.
In no particular order, Here are the top 10 moments that got people talking on and off social media, as selected by the Pulse Sports Lifestyle desk:
#1 Thomas Partey Rape allegations
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Earlier in July this year, Arsenal fans were completely thrown into a state of panic when the reports in the UK suggested that a popular player at a North London club was arrested and brought in for question by the authorities concerning a rape case.
However, till this day, the identity of the had not been officially made known, but further reports suggested that the player in question was no other than Ghanaian international Thomas Partey.
However, the Gunners midfielder was reportedly charged with two counts of rape but returned to training in pre-season to team up with the rest of his mates.
Shortly after, Partey’s name came up on social media once more after one of his former flames dragged him to filth alleging that the Arsenal star had raped her.
The lady only known as Chaurntae had also posted receipts of her conversation with the Gunners midfielder while maintaining her claims.
But the story only lasted less than a week, and since then, we haven’t heard from any of the parties involved about the alleged scandal.
#2 Kylian Mbappe's Madrid U-turn
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France superstar Kylian Mbappe shocked millions of Madridstas around the world in May this year, after publicly flirting with Los Blancos before abandoning them for a new deal in Paris.
For months, PSG had tried to get Mbappe to commit his future to the club, butbthe 23-year-old had consistently turned down offers from his Qatari bosses with a view to sealing a move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The club of my dreams he called it, or at least was what we all thought, until PSG announced that their superstar striker had committed to a fresh 3-year deal.
It wasn’t actually the renewal that even pissed off Madrid supporters, but the reported mammoth figures involved in the deal was what sent the internet into chaos.
According to reports, Mbappe penned a new deal that would pay him at least $75 million in salary over the course of his contract, after taxes with a $125 million golden handshake to sign on as per The New York Times, easily making the highest-paid footballer on the planet.
The contract which reportedly also included some clauses like the guarantee that he has a veto, in effect, over various appointments at the club, ranging from managers to sporting directors to players, has been denied by the player himself.
Mbappe’s dramatic ‘U-turn’ also pissed off Real Madrid president who said he couldn’t recognize the French star anymore after that new deal.
Although, Perez has not ultimately closed the door to Mbappe’s future arrival at the club. It looks inevitable anyway.
#3 Kurt Zouma's cat-kicking saga
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The West Ham board could not have dreamed of the worst possible start in 2022, after reports emerged that the club’s defender Kurt Zouma had been taking into custody after a video of him kicking and slapping his pet cat surfaced on social media in February.
The 27-year-old Zouma was fined two weeks’ wages by the club - equivalent to around £250,000 .
Although Zouma had already publicly apologized for his actions, the French international defender was under investigation by the RSPCA, who ended up seizing his cats from him.
He also lost his sponsorship deal with adidas but eventually featured for the Hammers in the Premier League.
Zouma’s teammate Michail Antonio also came to his defense on social media after there were calls from supporters to sack the Frenchman for the club.
Antonio’s comment then triggered more reactions on social media as the Jamaican striker questioned calls for his teammate’s sack, comparing his actions to those who are racists in football.
#4 NPFL Match fixing claims
We thought we had seen it all in Nigerian football. Not until a footage of the penalty shoot-out in the Ogun State FA Cup final between Remo Stars and Ijebu United surfaced online earlier in June.
The footage which has now gone viral on social media shows one of the Remo Stars players seemingly throwing away his spot-kick in 'bizarre' fashion just before their opponents stepped up and scored theirs with the Remo Stars goalkeeper appearing to be somewhat nonchalant about the shoot-out.
Reports suggested that the bizarre sequence was done on purpose as social media erupted.
In fact, the penalty was so ridiculous that it even made the rounds on foreign news platform including SportBible, with many making silly jokes about the league standard in the country.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo's bombshell interview
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Cristiano Ronaldo could not have dreamed of the worst possible end to 2022.
The 37-year-old Portuguese returned to the club where he broke out as a global star in the summer of 2021 and shone against all odds despite Manchester United’s disappointing sixth place finish in the league.
However, following the conclusion of the 2021/22 season, concerns began to grow over Ronaldo’s future, with reports emerging that he requested an immediate exit.
The shocker was that all the clubs linked to the legendary striker blatantly denied any interest in his services.
However, he eventually returned to training in the summer and began the season with the Red Devils, only to be permanently relegated to the bench as the season gradually progressed under new manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo was obviously not pleased with his new seat in the dugout and opted to grant popular American media personality Piers Morgan an exclusive interview which turned out to be a bombshell after the release of the teaser in November.
Ronaldo did not hold back against the club hierarchy, having given them a piece of his mind via the interview and also directly shading the club’s administrators with fans of the Portuguese superstar seemingly divided on whether or not to drum support for their Idolo.
The repercussion of the interview? Manchester United confirmed they had terminated his contract in November, during the World Cup in Qatar as the 37-year-old became a free-agent heading into the new year.
#6 Ime Udoka's cheating scandal
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In September, one of the biggest NBA scandals in 2022 was revealed when reports that Boston Celtics former coach Ime Udoka cheated on his wife Nia Long broke on social media.
The 45-year-old Nigerian American coach confirmed he was indeed h*rny, hence leading to his infidelity after admitting to having an affair with a staff member.
The Boston Celtics ended up suspending Udoka after an allegation leaked out of an involvement with a female employee in the organization, having led the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Eastern Conference in his first season as head coach.
Udoka has since apologized but the news garnered widespread reaction on social media.
#7 Gerard Pique and Shakira split
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Gerard Pique drew an end to his illustrious career as a professional footballer in November having won every trophy at domestic and international level.
However, before then the 35-year-old defender saw an end to his 11-year relationship with popular music star Shakira, after the latter confirmed their separation in June following damning claims of the ex-Barcelona defender’s infidelity.
Pique was fingered by a Brazilian model who revealed that the Spanish international was always on her case despite being in a relationship with Colombian songstress Shakira, causing fans of the singer to hit out at the former Blaugrana star online.
#8 Mason Greenwood assault
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Mason Greenwood could not have imagined the worst possible start to 2022, after his arrest for domestic violence earlier in February.
The 20-year-old English striker is currently on bail after being arrested on suspicions of rape, sexual assault as well as making threats to kill and assault his ex-girlfriend Harriet Robson.
Harriett uploaded a video on social media showing her face bloodied and bruised while accusing Greenwood as the man responsible for her plight.
Greenwood was reportedly arrested on January 31 and has been exiled from the Red devils squad since their 1-0 win over West Ham on January 22 after being suspended from playing or training with the club until further notice.
He also lost his sponsorship deal with Nike and was removed from the EA Sports FIFA franchise.
#9 FIFA suspends Russian men’s and women’s teams from international competition due to the war in Ukraine.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, world football governing body FIFA, was forced to suspend the 2018 World Cup hosts from football following criticisms for not going far enough to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
10 Roman Abramovich sells Chelsea
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In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, former Chelsea club owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell his beloved franchise after calls from the UK parliament to sanction UK-based Russian Oligarchs.
To that effect, Abramovich succumbed to serious pressure from the government and put the club up for sale in March.
In a lengthy and extremely thorough process, the club was eventually sold to the Todd Boehly-led consortium in May - in what was an end to the Abramovich era that saw Chelsea win every single silverware at club level both domestically and in Europe.
However, following the 19-year reign of Abramovich, Boehly was eventually forced to fire coach Thomas Tuchel after less than five months in charge.
Todd Boehly eventually recruited former Brighton boss Graham Potter, as the man to continue the new era heading into 2023.
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